


Double or Nothing

by cyanideZero



Series: Don't Look Back [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: AU, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-08
Updated: 2013-06-23
Packaged: 2017-11-06 13:18:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/419347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyanideZero/pseuds/cyanideZero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We two children<br/>So full of bravado<br/>Burn like the sun<br/>And die before 'morrow.</p><p>(EriVris)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The bright Alternian sun rose, barely peeking over the horizon as its first rays hit a small secluded village on the shoreline. Already, trolls were finishing their breakfasts and heading out to haul in their nets and tend to the small patches of land they had cultivated. The village was completely self-sufficient, living on the very outskirts of society and accordingly, some social norms of classic trollhood were ignored. The villagers rose with sun and went to bed in when the moons came up, tried keeping bloodshed to a minimum within the tiny community, and blood color had no effect here. There was not much point, as lowbloods were the majority and the higher colors had to work just as hard; it was easy to forget. Most of them had no lusii, having been found as mere wrigglers whose lusus had gotten on the wrong side of a highblood. Every one of them had seen the dark side of troll society and was wary of any adult trolls who came near. But perhaps the greatest danger came from sea, where bands of feral Roverazers prowled along with the equally fearsome Gambligants who did the dirty work for the Imperial Fleet at a price.

But today was a day of excitement in the village, as tomorrow was the Twin Eclipse where both moons were blotted out at the same time for nearly two hours. As a tradition, they lit up the night with a bonfire, the only night they risked it for fear of marauders, and had a celebration. Terezi and Vriska were out in the fields, tending to the plants in a comfortable silence in favor of their usual jabs and insults that cemented their friendship and near-kismesistude. They both the same age old, and were brought up together in the village. They found a kindred spirit that they both respected and despised in each other, and often played (somewhat dangerous) games with each other, but no one had gotten hurt yet.

 Terezi looked up from where she was tending a patch of garden and elbowed Vriska in the ribs when she spotted a large-horned figure in the distance.

“See, I told you! He’s staring at you again!’ she snickered.

Vriska glanced up, and large-horned boy visibly started hurriedly kept walking. His tiny flying moobeast-lusus flapped after him down to the shore. “Ugh, if he could get any more obvious, he’d have to dump a bucket on my head!”

Terezi cackled. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

“No way! How could someone like _me_ flush for some loooooooser that can’t even look me in the eye?”

“Someone like you? A loud, obnoxious honkbeast with an ego problem? He’s a nice guy, even if he is weak, fun to play against, remember?”

“Weak, weak, weak is right!” snapped Vriska, ignoring the insult and looking at the shore where Tavros was picking up driftwood. “Don’t remind me of the games, I swear he made me want to push him off a cliff because he was so _nice_ about everything.”

“That’s because you’re a bitch to everyone and he’s the only one that can stand you.”

“Shut up, everyone loves me. Including you.”

“Heehee, spiderbitch speaks nothing but the truth. I think I know who _you_ love.”

Vriska abruptly stood up and spat, “I…don’t…like… _anyone_! And definitely not that loser who can’t hate me after everything I’ve done to him!” and stormed off with a basket full of weeds, ignoring the looks she got from the villagers.

Terezi stared after her thoughtfully, then at Tavros who was thankfully well out of hearing range. Smirking to herself, she gathered up her baskets and set off to the village.

She handed off the vegetables to the troll cooks in one of the modified hives and wandered up the street to find her friends. Karkat and Nepeta were lugging two huge nets of fish and seafood along the cliff side when she caught up to them.

“Hey Karkles, Nepeta. You look slightly grayer and grumpier than normal.”

“I am afraid that given my predisposition to become an emotional magnet and feelings dump for all sorts of overdramatized desires that apparently everyone in this grubfucking town has will make me a target, given that the worst of all of you has just stormed by looking unusually flustered and about to hurt someone more than she already has.”

“What Karkitty means,” Nepeta inpurrupts, “is that Vriska just stomped past and didn’t say hi because she looks awfurly angry about something. I’m guessing this is about Tavros?”

“You are the most uncanny cat troll I have ever had the pleasure of meeting” replied Terezi, not one bit shocked Nepeta had figured out the problem already. She always had the uncanny ability to sniff out relationship problems (and tendency to create fictional ones “fur fun”). Along with Karkat, they made the ultimate quadrant team.

“Yes Vriska, and she’s getting worse by the day. We’ve got to do something about her before she kills someone!” said Terezi. ‘Yesterday she almost pushed Tavros off a cliff after he wouldn’t look her in her 8-pupiled eyes.”

“Are you supposed to be her friend or something? And Tavros’s friend?” snapped Karkat. “Why are you dumping all this on us, as if I did not have about a million other things I would rather be doing and all of them unpleasant.”

“We’re her furriends too Karkitty” scolded Nepeta. “We’ve got to help! I don’t want either of them to die! You know how Vriska is; she’ll kill anyone she’s not satisfied with.”

“And Tavros definitely likes her, although why is beyond me. We’ve got all the facts for the case; One, Vriska is in denial although because it doesn’t fit in with her view of herself. Two, Vriska’s ego is interfering. Three…”

“Wait, Terezi,” Interrupted Karkat, “I think it’s a bit more than that. As much as it pains me to say this, Vriska isn’t as much of a bitch as she tries to be. She wants everyone to hate her, but I don’t think Tavros is actually capable of hating anyone, he’s so passive. But she’ll keep trying until one of them is dead, and I don’t think the body we’re going to hide will be Vriska’s.”

“But that’s the purroint! We _don’t_ want them to kill each other!” cried Nepeta. “I like Tavros, he’s very nice! He even roleplays with me despurrite that he’s allergic to Ponce de Leon.”

Terezi remained silent for a few more moments, then slowly spoke up. “If I know anything about Vriska, we need to remain one step in front of her. Good thing she’s so predictable, it’s almost a waste of my effort. But for the sake of Tavros, he needs to act first and fast if he doesn’t want to be sleeping underground before he turns 7 sweeps.”

 

~~~

 

The next night darkened hot and humid with the two moons still shining brightly in the sky. The celebration of the Twin Eclipses was starting, and all the trolls of the village were gathered outside in a semicircle as the treasures of the village were brought out. Two adults dragged a heavy chest across the sand and placed it in at the center of the trolls, where the light from the bonfire whipped shadows across its surface. The young trolls stared with wide eyes, this being the first time that the village deemed it safe enough to bring out the artifacts in sweeps. Karkat and Nepeta gripped the Dolorosa’s hands in excitement and the other young trolls were in similar states. The chief of the village, a seasoned yellowblood, stepped ceremoniously up the chest and clicked it open. From its depths, he lifted the first artifact out; a large blue gun that crackled dangerously at the tip of its harpoon-shaped muzzle and placed it on its stand where it could be seen by all. The second object was substantially smaller, and only until it was placed on its stand and spread out in a slowly whirling circle did Vriska see that it was a set of eight, 8-sided blue dice. She gasped. It was like it was made specifically for her. Only when the other trolls started moving away and she felt Terezi pull her arm did Vriska drag her gaze from the dice and look around. The chatter of happy trolls rose up as everyone dived into the food or began dancing as a group a trolls started playing drums in a hearty beat.

The party had started.

 

~~~

 

Vriska sat beside Terezi as they watched Karkat and Nepeta twirling around the bonfire. Vriska smoothed her short white dress with her symbol sewn on her chest, a gift from the Dolorosa. “This party is laaaaaaaame,” she whined. “Everyone’s either stuffed or dancing.”

“Except me,” replied Terezi, putting her hand over Vriska’s and slowly dragging her claws over it. She smirked at the blueblood and watched her reaction out of the corner of her eye. Vriska stiffened, then shook of Terezi’s hand, only to catch the tealblood’s face none too gently with her claws. Terezi grinned as Vriska’s warm breath washed over her, and sneaked a quick glance to the other side of the fire, trying to find Tavros. Terezi pulled herself closer to Vriska; Tavros had better hurry the fuck up or she may not be able to control herself despite her best efforts. Vriska’s head started drifting down towards Terezi’s neck when the light from the fire was blotted out by figure. They both looked up, and Vriska hurriedly disengaged Terezi while Terezi settled back to watch the events, only slightly disappointed. The figure’s face was shadowed from the fire behind him, but the huge horns were unmistakable.

Tavros nervously fiddled with his hands and started at the ground as he spoke. “Hi, Terezi and um, Vriska. You look lovely tonight, I mean Vriska does, not that Terezi doesn’t look good too, but uhm.” He faltered, then finally blurted out. “Vriska, could you dance with me? That is, uh, if you want to.” Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked Vriska full in the face, almost trembling as he did so.

Vriska’s eyes narrowed, but Terezi elbowed her in the ribs and hissed in her ear. “He interrupted us to ask you. He’s looking at your face. Why not?”

Vriska glared at her, but grudgingly stood up and extended her hand. “One dance, Torealoser, and one dance only.”

Tavros face lit up like a little kid and grasped Vriska’s hand in his rough one as they walked off to the fire.

“Remember what they say about trolls with large horns!” Terezi called after them.

Vriska extended a single graceful middle finger at her without looking back.

~~~

Terezi was waltzing with Karkat as they passed by a flushed Vriska and Tavros still dancing with each other, both happier than their friends had seen them before in their lives. Terezi couldn’t help but cackle at Vriska as they went by. “That’s a long ‘one dance.’”

Vriska didn’t reply, just laughed. Not her usual grating, sarcastic laugh but a melodic one, full of light. Then Tavros laughed too, his all deep but breathy and they danced away like that, the lightness intertwining with the breathiness.

Terezi and Karkat arrived back to where Nepeta was waiting for them, and the cat girl immediately jumped on them squealing “it worked it worked!”

~~~

Later that night, a cheer rose up as the pink and green light in the sky dimmed. The Twin Eclipse was beginning, the trolls watching in the awe as the moons were blotted out. The fire became the only light source, and the diurnal villagers couldn’t see very far at night. More torches were set up providing pools of light to those not dancing. Tavros and Vriska collapsed in the sand under one of them, still laughing. Tavros gave her a shy smile. “You’re uh, a really, good, dancer. Especially since you’re uh, a little bit, taller than me.”

She smirked and punched him in the arm. “You’re not as bad as I thought you would be, Torealos…Tavros.”

They sat in silence for a while, watching the revelry, when Tavros suddenly leaned in a pecked her on a cheek then scooted away, blushing furiously.

“Damn, you’ve become bold tonight” said Vriska, stunned. Without thinking she scooted closer to Tavros and kissed him back. Slowly, unbelievingly, Tavros turned back and returned the touch, putting his arm around Vriska. It lasted for a minute, a bit awkward with Tavros’s teeth and inexperience, but when they broke it their eyes were shining. 8 pupils vs. two.

Tavros shuddered. “I think, I uh, I uh”. He looked down again.

“Spit it out! Stop stammering, what??” she snapped, sounding harsher than she meant.

He opened his mouth but was interrupted by screaming.

Their heads snapped around and saw a villager stumble into light. His right arm and horn were gone; the ends looked burnt, oozing dark red blood. Everyone froze.

“Roverazers…up the coast, they’re coming” he gasped, and collapsed.

All hell broke loose then, as people started panicking and screaming, scrambling up to the safety of the clifftops. Roars broke the night as a group of scarred trolls waving all sorts of weapons stampeded into the light, knocking over torches and putting out the bonfire.

The shore was plunged into complete darkness, with the moons still blacked out, and the villagers were thrown in to disarray, blind at night as the seatrolls were during the day. Suddenly Vriska screamed, which seemed to throw Tavros out of a trance as he watched the destruction. He heaved them both to their feet and looked around wildly for a safe place as white-hot laser guns began shooting through the night.

Nepeta appeared beside them, her claws dripping with blue blood and a wild grin on her face. Karkat was next to her, wielding sickles and Terezi had grabbed the artifact gun when she broke her cane-sword in a Roverazer. All three were already bleeding from various wounds.

“Follow me! We need to escape!” yowled Nepeta, sprinting up the shore to the cliffs, slashing and dodging weapons. Karkat and Terezi followed, gesturing to Vriska and Tavros.

“What about, uh, Tinkerbull?”  asked Tavros anxiously, having pulled out a lance and was holding it awkwardly.

“We can’t worry about him now! He’ll find us!” Vriska yelled, trying to pull Tavros and wield her sword in the other, her vicious fighting spirit aroused. Through the chaos, she saw a Roverazer trying to bundle the glowing dice into a bag and she leapt toward him, hoping Tavros could take care of himself for a second. She stabbed the troll through the neck and grabbed the dice from his hand, snapping the sword in the process. Tavros appeared next to her.

“Don’t, run away, like that!” he yelled, and tried grabbing her.

She leapt nimbly out of his reach and ran after the others, calling back “Only if you can catch me!” Tavros didn’t hesitate to charge after her.

A Roverazer saw them leave. “She has the octect! Grab her! She’s gone with that tealblood with the Crosshairs!”

Nepeta lead Terezi and Karkat through the cliff face and up, closely pursued by the feral Roverazers. They reached the top, but found their path blocked by more ferals.

“Come and get us you nooksucking fuckwaifts of incestuous slime!” screamed Karkat.

“Kill the lowbloods, take the teal and blue” snarled a hulking indigo. The Roverazers rushed the small group of friends, and bursts of light flashed out. Tavros and Vriska were back to back, until a lazer hit him in the leg he collapsed with a groan.

“Tavros!!!!” screamed Vriska, losing her concentration and reaching for Tavros. “No no no no no!” She felt hands grabbing her, dragging her back and her wrists manacled together, pulling her away from Tavros’s limp form.

They tried wrestling the dice away from her, but they sparked angrily and the Roverazers jumped back.

The rest had finished with the rest, and Vriska could see the bleeding forms of Nepeta, Karkat, and Terezi lying on the ground.

“Hand over the dice, and we’ll let this one live” snarled the indigo, pointing the Crosshairs at Tavros’s head. Tavros closed his eyes.

Vriska looked at the dice, how _right_ they felt in her hand and then at Tavros. She made a split second decision.

“Fine!” she said, throwing the dice down. “Just don’t hurt him!”

The indigo gestured and a cerulean blood scooped the dice, then noticed something had fallen out of Tavros’s pocket. It was the tiny figurine of Pupa Pan that Tavros always carried. The cerulean handed it to the indigo who smirked.

Vriska looked with furious eyes, her mind control futile as she tried to concentrate over a throbbing headache.

“Hurt him? Heavens no, we’re not going to hurt him. We’re just going to let him live his dreams” said the indigo. Then with one swift movement, he kicked Tavros in the stomach and sent him over the cliff edge yelling “Fly, Pupa Pan, fly!”

Something in Vriska snapped. She screamed incoherently, flying at the indigo in insane fury. Something heavy slammed into her head before she could lay a finger on him and darkness overtook her.


	2. Chapter 2

Vriska slowly regained consciousness and soon realized this was a bad idea. Her head throbbed and pounded and she tasted blood in her mouth. The events of her last awakening rushed back to her. She groaned and rolled over, curling up in mental and physical pain and realized her hands were bound around her back and her feet immobilized, chained to a thick pole that ran straight up into a starry night sky.

No, not a pole. That was a mast, and this is a ship.

She was on a ship and all her friends were dead. The realization almost made her scream, but only released a choked sob from her raw throat.

A rough gravelly voice sounded behind her. “Oh look, the sleeping weakling awakens.”

She twisted her neck painfully in her chains and glared up at the indigo that had captured her, squinting to see in the dim light of the moons.

Vriska felt a wave of horror and disgust as she stared at the sea-hardened face. This was the troll that had murdered Tavros. She needed some sort of revenge, some vengeance no matter how meager. She summoned up her strength and lunged for his leg, sharp teeth snapping.

He step sided easily and gave her a crushing blow to the stomach that left Vriska gasping for breath.

“She does have guts, I’ll admit that” came a second voice, female this time.

A blurry face surrounded by a halo of tangled hair came into Vriska’s view. Vriska squinted and focused on a sharp angled face sporting horns extraordinarily similar to hers, only on opposite sides. She could only see the stranger’s left eye; the other was covered with some sort of lens with seven tiny red screens in it.

It was like looking into a mirror.

The reflection grinned, and moved Vriska’s head around, to get a better look at her. Vriska tried struggling but her exhausted limbs refused to respond.

“Uncanny, the similarities” declared the female troll. She stood and pocketed the di from the 8-set dice she had been toying with. The face moved away as the troll stood up in a arrogantly  challenging pose. “You say you found her with the octet? Hm, Mother Fate seems to have an interesting sense of humor. I’ll give you an offer for her. Fight me.”

The troll pulled out a hooked sword and leaned against it, smiling disarmingly at the indigoblood.

“Fight…you?” asked the indigoblood. “What the fuck do you mean?”

The other sighed, tossing her hair over one shoulder. “It’s simple, fuckwit.  Your payment is either death at my hands, or you beat me. I enjoy earning my spoils, so get out your weapon and wave it around or whatever it is that you do.”

The indigoblood bristled. “You don’t tell me what to do, cerulean. This is my ship, you’re surrounded and--”

The female cerulean narrowed her eyes, still grinning, and hissed. “That wasn’t a question, _highblood._ ” Her sword flicked out in a blazing arc and the indigo only barely managed to pull out his cutlass to parry the blow. A roar broke out as the rest of the Roverazer crew surged at the lone, well-dressed female troll who drove her sword through the chest of the indigo with a horrible _crack_ of his ribcage and in an amazing feat of strength hurled the body off her sword and into the ranks of the advancing trolls. Purple blood splashed the deck as the female laughed and howled with delight.

Vriska was terrified; she was known to be vicious in her village, but never had she seen a battle waged with no prior warning. The sudden and utter _randomness_ of the attack sickened her after so many peaceful sweeps with no bloodshed unless necessary.

Worst of all, she was helpless, still trapped in her bonds and unable to move more than a few feet from the mast. She wriggled her way so she was seated with her back to the mast and bound legs poised to lash at anyone who got too near. She had knocked down two trolls when she felt a strong hand grab her from behind and haul her up.

Vriska almost horn-butted the troll until she felt her chains fall away and a sword exactly like the stranger’s was shoved into her hands.

“Resourceful, very nice. Now prove it!” the stranger yelled into her ear before shoving Vriska directly into the path of oncoming adult trolls. They were huge, so much larger than Vriska, whose eyes hadn’t even become blue yet.

Battle fever took overtook her, adrenaline chasing her exhaustion away. Although the new sword felt strange in her hand, the balance all wrong, all the hours of training with Terezi were paying off. She was only aware of the battlefield, and the arcs of bloods that her sword carved out of the enemy. Multicolor blood spattered and slicked the planks of the deck as she managed to keep her footing on the heaving boat. If she was wounded, she didn’t notice. She had no idea where the stranger had gone. She had no plan of escape.  Nothing but graceful hacking.

But when an arm wrapped itself around the spell was broken and Vriska could only flail against the invading limb that had broken her guard. It was the female cerulean again, hauling Vriska to the railing of the ship, fending off attackers as she went, splashing through puddles of blood.

“Oh no. No no no! Not overboard!”  yelled Vriska, but the adult paid her no heed and dragged them both over the side. The insane adult was whooping. _Whooping,_ as she fell, executing a perfect dive entering the water. Vriska was not so lucky, cannonballing as the shock of the freezing water took her breath away. And oh god ouch, OUCH. Yup, the salt water confirmed that she was indeed hurt in many places.

The insane troll was back, hauling the half-drowned Vriska towards a smaller ship anchored two hundred yards away. The Roverazer boat was surprisingly quiet, and not until they were both well out of range did some Roverazers fire some half-hearted shots at her.  The stranger swam strongly, almost as well as a seadweller and covered the distance in no time. She hauled herself up a ladder that was dropped from the smaller ship and dumped Vriska on deck before vaulting over herself.

A cheer arose from the crew that had gathered to welcome their daring and risky leader. They fell silent when the young troll appeared over the railing. Vriska scrambled to her feet, freezing cold and dripping wet but defiant nevertheless. She had kept a grip on the sword and held it ready in a shaking hand. Her mind was nothing but a blank horror trying to cope with everything had happened in the last 48 hours.

The stranger strode forward and plucked the sword from Vriska’s grip and gestured for the crew to relax. She was perfectly dry again, her black and blue uniform flawless and not one bit fazed by the killing and swimming.

“Greeting my lovely Gamblingants!” she said, smiling broadly at the assembled crew. “I’m sure you’re all wondering who this little wriggler is! You can see she’s the spitting image of me, uncanny isn’t it? Must be Lady Luck on my side today when I won her.” she spun on her heel and bowed deeply and ironically to the shivering troll. “Marquise Spinneret Mindfang, Dealer Gamblingant, Terror of the Seas and the Land too, Captain of The Scratch, quickest boat on the oceans” she declared, straightening up. “And who do I owe the pleasure?”

Vriska was stunned. _The_ Mindfang? The one that struck terror in to every troll’s heart was this insane cerulean? This was her hero, the one she roleplayed with Terezi? She almost snorted, then declared with equal bravado: “I am Vriska Serket, leveler of empires, undertaker of adventures, and gainer of alllllllll the levels.”

The crew whooped and cheered when she finished, and Mindfang gave her a dangerous but supportive smile. “Welcome to the Gamblingants youngling, I’m sure you’ll fit right in.” With one arm she swept Vriska into the crew where she was interrogated, poked, and prodded by the curious trolls.

Vriska cast a glance over the expressionless expanse of water visible between the jungle of legs, trying to seek out the shore, maybe see her village. But there was nothing but water, mocking her with its emptiness.

“Well” she thought bitterly. “It’s not as if there’s anything worth going back to. No more Terezi, no more Tavros, no more Karkat and Nepeta. It’s just me now. It’s all about me. And I will do anything to survive.”

She imagined their faces for one moment more, cementing them into her memory, and then pushed all thought of her friends from her head. She let herself be swept up in the revelry, so similar her last one by the bonfire, but in utterly different company. If this was where she had to stay, this was where she would succeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly sorry for the reorganization, but I decided to condense the two storylines.


	3. Chapter 3

Vriska sat uncomfortably on a stool in Mindfang’s private quarters. She fiddled with the too-large jacket and baggy pants she had been given in favor the torn and bloody white dress that she had been abducted in. Her arms and face were bruised and cut badly and the cuts stung when she washed off the grime and gore with water from a barrel. She had been given some food on deck while the crew ate elsewhere and then been sent off to wait for something in this room, where she had sat since. It was bizzare, thinking she was in Mindfang’s room. Mindfang was a legend, but the way the villagers spoke of her she was long dead and gone. The fantastic exploits of the corsair had captured Vriska’s imagination as a young grub, but she thought she could never do anything nearly as amazing, given that she was stuck in the village. Leaving it meant certain culling. But now, here was Vriska was sitting beside the legendary bed and on a legendary stool in a legendary ship that looked perfectly normal. She hadn’t been on many ships before, but the austere décor and bare wood seemed typical of a vessel this size.

Outside the door, the sounds of the others grew louder and louder as they finished their late night meal. Loud laughs and high cackles accompanied shouted bets over the most trivial of things. There were thumps, yells, and the clash of steel but no sounds of pain, just goodwilled violence. The sun was coming up, casting its rays through the porthole in the room and Vriska’s aching eyes happily adjusted to the over-bright light she was used to. Gambligants worked both day and night, not following a set schedule although most preferred to sleep during the day. She glanced around, noting the maps on the walls, a small bookshelf, and the desk at which she sat which was covered with compasses and numerous other unnamable instruments. There was a larger window that faced backwards out of the ship, but it was shuttered. Underneath it was a weathered case with reinforced edges and a solid lock.

Vriska hesitated, weighing the chances of being caught, then carefully got up and walked over to the case. She realized with surprise the steel lock was hanging open. When it was removed the light from something small and blue and spilled out. She tried opening the lid a little more, knowing she was stepping over a line as she did so…

SLAM.

Everything in the cabin rattled as Mindfang burst the door, bottle in hand and the same crazy grin on her face. Vriska slammed the box shut and spun around to face the adult, fumbling to return the lock behind her back.

Mindfang’s eye snapped down to Vriska then around the room. Her expression didn’t change as she spoke.

“We need to work on your poker face. Now step away from the box and have a seat.” She didn’t sound angry at least. The pirate spun into the large chair at the desk and took a swig from the bottle, staring at Vriska expectantly.

Vriska froze, then sighed with relief as the lock finally slid into place. Supremely confused, she left the box returned to the stool and stared back at Mindfang. She didn’t think she looked guilty, but apparently the corsair thought otherwise.

The silence stretched on as Mindfang alternately drank and contemplated Vriska, who tried not to fidget under the glare of the 7-lens eyepatch over the Marquise’s right eye. Eventually, Mindfang leaned back and pointed at Vriska with her bottle.

“I’ll give it to you straight. You’re an idiot” she said.

Vriska stiffened, unsure how to respond. She had seen this troll murder others for sport, and was unwilling to share the same fate. Her eyes flicked to the door, then back at the Gamblingant.

Mindfang’s expression grew more serious and she put the bottle off to one side.

“You look indignant. Shall I go through a list with you?”

Vriska remained silent.

“Well that’s one more. You’re silent at all the wrong times” continued Mindfang. “Let’s talk about the way you fight. It’s pretty. It’s effective. You’re not bad with a sword, for a wriggler. And you’re also horrendously stupid, even for a wriggler. You don’t use your brain, or even try to use your powers when you fight. You don’t look for escape.”

“I don’t need to run away” muttered Vriska.

Mindfang’s lips quirked in a thin smile. “Cover up, your idiocy is showing. Typically, I’d cull you for speaking back like that but I’ll cut you some slack for now. It’s not a matter of whether you need to escape; it’s about having a backup. If you’re sticking with us, then you need to learn to balance the odds. If you don’t want to stick around, then you’re welcome to jump overboard.”

“I’ll stay” interrupted Vriska.

“Then learn to keep your mouth shut and don’t interrupt me when I’m speaking, you’ll live longer if you do.”

Vriska swallowed and suppressed the insults trying to clamber out of her throat in retaliation.

The lens glinted as Mindfang examined her before continuing. “As I was saying, you need to know when to abscond. A gamble’s only good if the odds are in your favor. Then there’s the matter of your powers. You seem very much like a dumb landdwelling version of me, and for some reason you seem to never attempt to influence others by the way of your powers.” Abruptly, she changed direction. “Now, would you like to talk about your life back on land?”

Telling this monster about her life in the village was the last thing she wanted to do. It would contaminate the memories. Vriska shook her head and glared at Mindfang. “There is nothing I need to say.”

Mindfang slapped the table in glee, her smile back. “Excellent! Then you already know about the precious commodity of secrets. But you don’t know how to deliver them, your face is like an open book to the trained eye. Smile!”

Vriska’s head swam from the abrupt changes in topic; the day’s exertions were catching up with her. When a sword appeared at her throat, she only looked down at it stunned. She hadn’t even noticed that Mindfang had gotten up.

“Smile!” commanded Mindfang, pressing the sword a little harder into Vriska’s throat. With her black and blue jacket and mane of hair, she cut an imposing figure looming over the young troll.

Vriska didn’t have the energy to fight against the mad pirate anymore so she obeyed, baring her teeth in a gruesome facsimile of a grin.

“Hm,” was all Mindfang said as she sheathed her sword but remained standing. “I suppose you pass. No flying colors; yours are still drab and grey. Eridan will show you to your bunk. You are dismissed.”

She turned and looked out the small window, arms crossed in her typical cocky pose, clearly giving Vriska leave. As Vriska walked out the door she heard Mindfang call after her.

“Try not to disappoint me, won’t you? I may decide you are not a gamble worth taking.”

Vriska burned with indignation and emerged on deck. It was a cloudy day that dulled the sun and let the trolls relax on the warm boards with no fear of blindness. Two huge masts rose up into the sky and 6 laser cannons lined each side of the ship. A mass of rope hung over the sails in a mess of knots and loops, all of it beyond Vriska’s very rudimentary knowledge of ships. The deck creaked and she almost lost her footing when the ship rose on a swell, then dropped again. There was a movement behind her and she turned to see a young seatroll jog up, unusual both in his high blood color and age.

“My name is Eridan Ampora, I’ve been assigned ta take ya to yon quarters.” He looked at Vriska, taking in her wounds and overall ragged appearance. He was dressed in tight fitting striped shorts and a cutoff shirt finished off with a purple sash about his waist, all impeccably clean. It was an unusually sparse outfit when the rest of the crew was outfitted in jackets against the chill. A shock of purple ran through the bangs that flopped over his face. Then Vriska noticed the fins flaring out from either side of his head. _Seadweller._ What was a highblood doing on a Gamblingant ship?

“Och, what in god’s name happend to ya? Ye looks as if yov been dragged through a subjuggulator circus an’ back,” said Erilame or whatever.

“Shut you nosy windchute and just show me to my bed,” snapped Vriska.

Eridan stiffened and said “If you think I’m just going to let you talk to me like that you are sorely mistaken landlubber…”

Vriska’s anger was amplified with the pounding of her head. Stomping up to Eridan, she jabbed a finger into his chest and spat “I just lost everything I have ever known or loved. I have not slept in nearly two days. I am on a strange ship and have just been interrogated by a pirate. So I. Am not. In. A. Mood. To. Deal. With. You.” She pushed him back as she removed her finger, leaving a bloody blue dot on the pirate’s shirt.

The barely-violet eyes flared with anger when he stumbled back. He whipped out two small knives and his facial fins waved with anger, looking almost ridiculous as he was out of place.

“Oh so the feelin’ is mutual. Ya think ah’m happy babysittin’ some liddle lost barkbeast?” he said. “Ah dinnae join to play mamma cluckbeast tae some pretentious cerulean!”

Vriska scoffed and crossed her arms. “As if you are not the very definition of pretentious, loser. What are you going to do with those tiny things? Tickle me with them?”

There was a whirr and a flash of metal beside her head, making her flinch right as the ship rose again. She lost her balance and fell in an utterly undignified manner, drawing unwanted attention when she hit the deck with a thump. Quivering in the wood above her was one of the small knives, buried nearly to its hilt. Eridan loomed over her and pointed his other weapon at her nose.

“The next one is goin inta your throat, watch yer step,” he snarled. Suddenly, he was yanked back by his sash and Mindfang was there, grinning down at them both. She hauled Vriska up by her collar and made them stand facing each other.

“I see you’ve met Vriska, Eridan. Vriska, this is Eridan. Eridan also joined us not long ago, it’s like you two of a kind. Eridan, didn’t I give you a simple command to bring this troll to her bunk, Eridan? I do not remember asking you to pick a fight with her, while I admire the effort,” she said, somehow making the calm words bite with sarcasm.

Eridan put his knife away and looked at the deck. “Yes cap’n.”

Vriska smirked at him, so he was a new arrival too? Stupid of him to pick a fight when he was just a lowly whatever is a low rank on a ship.

The captain released them both, nearly making Vriska fall again as she tried to get used to just walking on a heaving ship. Eridan landed neatly and sullenly yanked his knife from the wood.

“Now,” Mindfang continued. “Since you seem to get along _so_ well, why don’t we move Vriska to the empty bunk beside yours, Eridan? You are now responsible for this troll’s seaward education.”

Eridan looked like he wanted to protest, but flattened his fins against his head and repeated “Yes cap’n” with considerable less enthusiasm.

Vriska opened her mouth to say something against bunking with this douchebag, but something hit her full across the side of her face again, bringing her to her knees, eyes streaming in pain. Mindfang had just backhanded her, her eyes mocking and angry.

“You will learn to respect my authority on my ship. Or you will need better reflexes. Much better. They are miserably slow to unexpected stimuli at the moment. Dismissed.”

She abruptly turned and strode back into her own cabin, leaving the two young trolls on deck. Eridan grabbed Vriska’s arm and dragged her to the crew quarters, where many of the crew were already asleep in the hanging hammock-sopor-pods. They were arraigned in pairs, some closer than others. Vriska was curious in spite of herself; all the trolls in her village slept without sopor, since they couldn’t get it because of their isolation. It was found that the peaceful life they led was soothing enough. She remembered its calming effects though and felt she may be grateful for the slime today. Weaving her way amoung the sleeping bodies she and Eridan reached a pair of hanging coons, hanging beside one another beside a shuttered porthole.

Eridan grimaced. “Here we are. Tha one closer to the window tis mine. Keep your sopor to yourself. Good day.” He pulled a partitioning curtain between the pods and Vriska heard the rustle of clothes and a soft splash as he entered his coon.

“What a complete tool,” Vriska thought, then eyed her own coon. It promised blessed relief from the whirlwind in her mind. She didn’t even bother taking off the borrowed clothes and just slumped into the pod, jacket and all. The slime was watery and stung her cuts, since it was probably cut with seawater. In fact it seemed to be mostly seawater, and wasn’t much different than sleeping outside like she did before. Lying there in the green liquid, she considered her options. Her situation really seemed as black and white as Mindfang put it, where the only two options were jumping to her death or assimilating into this lifestyle. If she was anything, Vriska wasn’t a failer. It was just like her games, she was very good at games. A good gambler holds all the cards, now she just needed the skills of gain those cards one by one.

If only her teacher wasn’t a newbie sailor highblooded loser.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is a bit of a slow chapter, I needed to hint at some things and establish a pattern.

It was dark.

Vriska stood on a cliff high above some strange-looking hives that were on fire. Her village. Screams and whoops drifted up, distorted as though corrupted with static and shrill interference. The sound pounded through her head and crushed her to her knees as her brain felt like it was being sliced into little cubes for that stew Nepeta was so good at making. The screams dissolved into music, discordant and unpleasant like a sea shanty sung by a million tone deaf seals and made the air vibrate with its intensity. Suddenly there was the indigo and Tavros lying on the ground, eyes wide and just beyond her grasp. She reached, stretched for him. But she couldn’t move and her arm was metal, heavy and weighing her down. The ground clung at her feet. The indigo rematerialized mockingly in front of her and being kicked Tavros to his death, laughing as he did so. Vriska opened her mouth, but no scream came out as she watched Tavros fall over the edge, his eyes resigned and accusatory, plunging daggers into Vriska’s heart. And then she was falling too, the cliff dissolving as she plummeted towards the sharp rocks at the bottom. She closed her eyes, ‘ _wake up wake up don’t live it again I couldn’t save him. I can’t save him it’s not my fault,’_ she thought. But she didn’t wake up. Part of her died when Tavros was kicked off, her subconscious was only confirming it. There was an agonizing pain as she hit a rock and her spine snapped. The scene folded in on itself, taking Vriska with it into a deep, comforting darkness that numbed the pain. It was peaceful, and she wanted to be here forever.

A voice cut in through the darkness.

“Get up, I’m only sayin’ in once. Unless ya want Cap ta throw ya t’da sharks.”

Eridan kicked Vriska’s coon lightly, waking the troll.

Vriska opened her eyes and saw the luminous lime green slime above her. It was like the nightmare version of the peaceful darkness she had been wrenched from. She burst from the sopor, gasping heavily and trying to escape the clinging liquid.

Eridan yelped and stumbled back. “Fuck!” he yelped as the sopor splashed from the coon, and snatched the ends of his sash out of the way. He was already dressed, but still coated in green slime.

Vriska calmed down as she remembered where she was. She sat back and carded a hand through her damp hair. “Watch out. I’m not…used to sleeping in a coon anymore,” she grunted instead of an apology.

“Nary a coon?” said Eridan, the disrespect lost in his surprise. “Then how did ya sleep? Don’t you ever have horrorterrors?”

“No.” came the short reply.

Eridan huffed, confused. What kind of freak troll doesn’t need sopor? His brain had always tormented him, ever since he was taken away for training. Every troll in his facility needed dense sopor, and his watered down pod on this ship barely adequate, nevermind sleeping wild. But the female troll didn’t look in the mood to answer any more questions.

“Keep quiet, don’t wake the others. Hurry up,” he said and left abruptly, leaving Vriska to clumsily clamber out of the pod and follow him. She nearly spilled it as it swung against her weight, but eventually extracted herself without falling. Green liquid dripped off her as she jogged to catch up.

The sun was setting, bringing its intensity down enough to be bearable to normal troll eyes. The rest of the crew was just beginning to stir when Eridan led her deeper into the ship’s maze like passages until they arrived at a pool of seawater under the sleeping deck. It was a rather nice pool, really, with smooth wood that lined the deep depression in the floor. Some sort of vent lay near the bottom, tightly shut. How they got the water in here was beyond her, and she didn’t care to ask her current guardian.

“You didn’t wipe off before coming down?” he asked, looking at the lime green drips leading all the way back to the bunks.

“With what? I slept in the only clothes I have.”

“With the towel it was in your seachest which was beside your coon? How could you have miss—oh nevermind. You’ll clean it up later.”

Eridan tugged off his shirt and sash and tossed them onto a platform attached to the wall. The slash made an incongruous clanking sound as it fell, as if there was metal inside. His knives maybe? Eridan dove into the pool, his gills flaring to breathe and swam near the bottom to scrape the sopor off his skin with polished piece of wood. Not to be outdone by this highblood tool, Vriska grabbed another one of the scrapers and jumped in as well.

Bad idea.

The water was freezing, a complete shock to Vriska who had never jumped directly into deep ocean water before. Her chest cramped, and she felt like she wasn’t breathing. Bubbles escaped from her mouth when she submerged and panicked, trying to find the surface again but failing. Her jacket dragged her down, restraining her arms. She was drowning in a five foot pool.

Two strong arms grabbed her around the chest and heaved. Eridan threw Vriska over the edge of the pool where she lay, coughing and gasping and trying to make her limbs respond.

Eridan splashed out a moment later, looking pissed. “What the fuck is wrong with ya? Why would ya just jump in like that? We get this water straight from the fuckin’ ocean and it’s cold down there. And it’s your fuckin’ first day and next thing I know you’ll be tryin’ to leap owerboard and Mindfang’ll blame me for your missin’ thinkpan an’ I’ll be chucked off too.”

Vriska’s cold fingers rubbed her throat. “You jumped,” she muttered resentfully, angry at herself for not realizing the difference in temperature tolerance.

Eridan snorted. “I’m a fuckin’ seadweller, this is my natural habitat and shit. Now get up, the others are comin’ and we need to clear out.” He shook the water off, donned his shirt, and retied his sash while Vriska pushed herself onto her elbows. Most of the slime was gone, the rest dripping off in chartreuse ribbons. She shook herself too, more to get her blood flowing again than to shake the water off. Banter from the adult trolls floated down the hall as the crew walked towards the communal ablution pool. She and Eridan scooted out as the trolls came in and a female oliveblood with triangular horns grinned and waved at Eridan before diving into the pool with the others. Some of the trolls didn’t bother dressing before they arrived and tossed their clothes onto the platform to dress when they were clean.

Eridan and Vriska traversed the tangle of passageways and she got her first good look at the innards of the ship. The whole 4th and 5th level of the ship felt as if it was built by drunk carpenter drones with no blueprints but grew more logical as they went up to the gunnery deck. She looked curiously down the side passages while Eridan stuck to the main walkways climbed the stairs to the main deck.

Vriska basked in the last warm rays of the sun, still hot enough to pull steam from her sodden jacket. The last watch of the day was shimmying down a tangle of ropes from a staggering height, dropping skillfully to the deck and pulling off the hood that protected his eyes. Vriska wasn’t typically nervous of heights, but the swaying ropes were very different from the solid cliffs in the village. They climbed to the poop deck of the ship and all around them the sea was turned a fiery red from the setting sun. I was beautiful, really. She was still staring when Eridan came up and shoved a broom and a receptacle of water into her hands. He stood, staring at her with his own broom and suspiciously bucket-shaped receptacle, unmoving.

He was waiting for her to unbend her pride and ask a question, but that sure as hell wasn’t going to happen. Putting two and two together, she moved to upend the contents onto the deck they were standing on.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Eridan said.

She glared at him and he returned her venomous look evenly, a mute test of wills. Vriska wouldn’t let him win.

She tried scrubbing the dry deck with her broom.

“No,” said Eridan.

She dipped the end of her broom into the water.

“No”

She tossed the water overboard. Then put her arm back to throw the receptacle.

A hand gripped her elbow and prevented her from tossing the stupid thing.

“No. Why would you ewen try that?”

“I don’t know! It’s my first day all my friends are dead I’ve been interrogated by a freaky version of myself and I don’t understand how any of this works!” she spat at him from behind the arm he still restrained.

“It’s simple, ya learn or ya die. That’s how it was when I came here too, ya think you’re the only one with a bad past? Stop whinin’.” Eridan released her and returned to his former position.

Vriska remained silent, trying to fight herself. She reached out with her mind experimentally, to take over the violetblood’s mind, but met a slippery barrier. She couldn’t get a grip anywhere, no chinks in the armor. She was surprised; even if she was out of practice no one had been able to just…brush it off like his mind was doing. She retreated, but she didn’t want to bend to the purple-haired tool. But she didn’t want to be thrown off either. Fine then. Any Serket worth her salt knew how to play a game and stack the odds for her. This was just a game. All tests were just games with stakes, and her life was on the line at this point. Swallowing her pride she said, “Alright, alright. Will you teach me how to be a sailor?”

“Say please.”

“Pleeeeeeeease,” she said, her voice somewhat sarcastic.

Eridan considered. “Fine, that’ll do. I’ll lead you from the kindness a my heart. Even if ya do make your words stupidly long. Follow my lead,” he said, and grabbed his casket and walked down to the main deck.

“As if your accent’s any better,” Vriska muttered, bringing her supplies down with her.

“I heard that. My accent is from a long line a distinguished seadwellers, take care not to rub your lowly nose into it or I’ll cut it off.”

Vriska made a face at his back.

~~~

Eridan was showing Vriska the proper way to scrub a deck and clean sopor off floorboards when Mindfang appeared out of her cabin, dressed the in the same black and blue jacket. She joined her crew where they were eating and started laughing and betting with the best of them, ignoring the young trolls completely.

“So when do we eat?” asked Vriska, eying the grubloaf and steaming twilightmeal grubsauce the adults were enjoying.

“After, the decks have to be clean afore the crew starts their day. A clean ship means no disease,” replied Eridan, sluicing the water across the deck for another patch to scrub.

“That hardly seems fair, we have to work before we even have a meal? I haven’t eaten in nearly two days, my stomach’s going to start eating itself.” Vriska’s belly grumbled loudly in confirmation.

Eridan laughed, a surprisingly nice sound. He drove the last of the water over the side of the boat and picked up his receptacle. “Were done here, let’s see if the greedy pigs left anything for us. Grab your stuff and stow it where ya found it then we can eat.”

“I don’t know where the hell you got this, you shoved it in my face an hour ago,” Vriska shot back. Eridan ignored her and trotted back up to the poop deck to put away the cleaning materials making Vriska follow his lead. The tension between the two had tightened, Vriska annoyed with her dependency and Eridan remained condescending. They retrieved their ration of grubloaf and ate on opposite sides of the deck, pointedly ignoring each other.

Vriska scarfed down her ration, ignoring any pretense of manners in her hunger. She had noticed that a lot of the Gamblingants acted with easy but savage politeness towards each other, a strange mixture of the crudest language imaginable, table pounding, and perfect manners. Maybe they took after the Captain. Or they were all insane. Or both. Vriska watched them work after she finished. Most of the crew were olive to cerulean bloods, minus the exception of Eridan and a few rustbloods. It was a surprisingly happy bunch of trolls; they worked together well, but as far as she could tell all of them were fond of taking strange risks, from leaping to the deck halfway up the rigging, to throwing weapons willy-nilly in friendly sparring competitions that she had come to expect from trolls outside her village. Not being the violent one was something she was still getting used to. It also made her uncomfortably aware just how unarmed she was, her sword that broke during her abduction still not replaced. She was musing if maybe she could gamble something get one of the others’ weapon when Eridan walked over to her with a coil of rope slung over her shoulder.

“Git up, I need to do some repairs up on the mast and I want to show you so ya don’t ask me later,” he said.

Vriska hopped up, sea legs found, and went with him to the mizzenmast. The ropes swayed with the boat, reaching up to what seemed like infinity in Vriska, even though it was the shortest mast on the ship. Her mouth was dry and feet glued to the deck at the thought of climbing this thing. Eridan grabbed the net-like rope and started climbing nimbly.

“You gonna stay there all night or ya gonna grow a pair a horns?” he called down, pausing mid-climb.

The taunt was enough to spur the cerulean into motion and she leaped, climbing the net with such ferocity that she nearly lost her footing twice but kept yanking herself up by her arms until she was far past Eridan. Her hands burned from the ropes, but it was worth it to see the shocked look on the seadweller’s face. Turning, she kept climbing, letting her body take over and carry her to the spar of the mast where waited, foot on a rope and arms over the yard. Eridan appeared quickly and leaped onto the spar as well with a newfound respect for the newbie written on his face. The tension between the two eased slightly. The rest of the early night was spent listening to Eridan, who turned out to be a surprisingly good teacher if she ignored the insults. Vriska was a quick student, catching on well and gaining confidence the more she leaped around the ropes. The seadweller talked to her in the manner of teacher to pupil, not equal to equal.

But at least he talked to her like he could stand her. The rest of the crew was distant, and it became obvious they didn’t trust her during the midnightmeal. Everyone gathered around in groups to talk, swear, and eat. Even Eridan, as much of an outlier his appearance made him, was part of a group that included the oliveblood that waved to him that morning as well as a huge blueblood and a female maroonblood. Mindfang was in another group. Vriska ate sitting against a railing, far away from the others and their suspicious glances. She had no need for their approval, so no need to talk to them. She convinced herself she wasn’t lonely and they were scum who were beneath her notice and instead stared fixedly over the waves. But her traitorious heart still breathed a sigh of relief when Eridan fetched her to clean the kitchen. He started explaining things again and Vriska let his nonstop stream of words ramble on and on.

Many tiring chores and piles of information later, Eridan left to join with his little clique again. She was alone for the meal once more, so after eating quickly Vriska climbed halfway up the rigging of the mainmast and sat down with her arms entwined with the ropes for support and faced the water. Wind and salt whipped her face, the boat almost skimming over the water and only occasionally hitting a large swell. It was nice up here, the socializing of the other trolls drifting up to her in a muted rumble. Alternia’s twin moons were setting, casting a pink and green glow over everything. In the distance was the sun. It rose as it always did, slow and majestic until breaking the horizon and seemingly shooting up into the sky as if eager to light up her world. The village would just be waking up now, getting ready for a day of farming and fishing. She remained lost in her memories until the clatter of departing voices told her everyone was settling in for the day. It was lonely with only the dead for company.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait!

The days passed rapidly in an exhausting cycle that had Vriska up every day at twilight and out of her coon far past daybreak, given that she was still the only one who was really comfortable in the sunlight.  Everyone else was a loser, tunneling down belowdecks at the first sign of sun. Or else they wore dark hats that shaded their eyes, but they were impractical to the extreme when you needed all your senses while balancing 70 feet in the air. Other trolls only came up is there was an emergency; even the fearless Mindfang retreated from the unforgiving sun.

Vriska was learning under the instruction of Eridan and the brusque orders of the other crewmembers that still didn’t trust the cerulean newbie. She resented the fact still was still the “newb” after a perigree of hard work. Gamblingants initiated crewmembers by the risks one took in battle; Vriska’s self-preservation was still too strongly ingrained in her after a life of running from danger. There was no chance to prove her worth, as the Gamblingants didn’t appear to have any interest in battle at the moment and spent the days cruising along to some destination they failed to inform Vriska of. They ended up meandering around a series of beautiful jungled islands, resplendent in green trees dotted liberally with screaming wingbeasts. Or “bards” as Eridan called them in his thick accent.

“Bards, say what?” she said. “Why would you call them singers?”

“No! _Bi-ards_ you imbecile. Tha’s wha highbluds call them, do ya honestly not know?”

Oh, birds. So that’s what birds were. She heard some crewmembers talking about them. But Vriska only grunted at Eridan. As if she was going to reveal she grew up with a bunch of lower-bloods in the village to this bulge of a troll. She walked off to help anchor the ship to hide her ignorance, feigning indifference.

The ship moored in the bay in one of the islands, a strangely shaped landmass resembling a seahorse on the map, with the tail forming a large lagoon. Here Mindfang ordered the crew to get supplies and disappeared alone into the dense jungle with a roll of parchment and a bag of mapmaking tools. It was suspicious, but Vriska wasn’t about to get in the way of the insane adult. In fact, all the adults were insane; they started a cruel game to see how many birds they could kill with one arrow in the densely packed sky. Vriska and Eridan were sent to retrieve fresh water, not understanding why the crew laughed until they saw the barrels they had to roll down to the stream and fill.

“Jesus fuckin’ christ, these things are _huge_. I din’t think I kin feel my arms ennymore.”

“Uuuuuuuugh how many are there?”

“Two fuckin’ dorzen.”

“Screw it. We need a plan.”

“So make one. Yer de one who lived on land as a wriggler.”

“Shut up and give me a second.”

Eridan opened his mouth again to protest and realized Vriska was already assembling something beside the barrels and demanding his help with the knots.

Several hours later, the crew came back loaded with dead wingbeasts and found Vriska and Eridan resting against two dozen full barrels rigged together on a complicated sled of vines, driftwood, and knots. They even got an approving nod from Mindfang when she returned.

“That’s a first. She hates everything I do like I’m the scum of the land or something,” said Vriska, surprised and staring after the pirate.

“Don’t pay any attn’tion to ‘er. She fools herself.” Eridan watched the Marquise with narrowed eyes. He refused to elaborate, even to the threat of Vriska punching him. They were interrupted by the Captain, angry once more telling them to get their asses on board or be left behind, the boat already beginning to move. It sparked a desperate scramble to grab the ropes dragging in the sand and get on board while the adults laughed.

Vriska was sorry to leave the islands and head back for open waters, and watched the dark dots disappear into the distance while the others enjoyed the feast of freshly killed “bards”. Despite her long presence on the ship, she still ate alone and excluded. Looking like their frightening Captain didn’t help her win over their hearts either, as if it was her fault or something.

Shortly after the meal, Mindfang stood up and leaped lightly onto a crate of rope and planted her feet. Huh, interesting. This was another first. Mindfang never spoke to the crew as a whole, preferring to slither among the ranks and execute discipline when needed. She stood alone, no first mate, solely in charge of a ship. Everyone gathered closer to the makeshift stage; Eridan was shoved to the back where Vriska’s could see him from where she was sitting.

“Hello my faithful crew members,” she said.  “Tonight is a very special night.”

An interested murmuring arose from the assembly.

Dramatic pause from the Marquise.

“We are going back to the Imperial Capitol!” she announced, deliberately enunciating each word.

Hisses and boos.

“Hush now! I know this means that Imperial ships are “off limits” for the time being, but you know the Capitol bastards. They know we’re the only ones who can track across oceans and political boundaries, and they pay well. We’ll be living like kings for the next year if we pull this off.”

“Izzit a runaway slave again?” called someone in the back.

 “Yup. It’s probably some stupid radical indigo, judging by the tidy sum we’ve been offered.”

Vriska noted with curiosity that Eridan tensed at the mention of a runaway, and only relaxed after Mindfang’s assertion of a highblood.

“…yada yada specifics when we get there. Boooooooring right? But there’s a twist now; Imperial ships may be off limits to us, but I know for a fact that Her Fucking Majesty has ordered a fleet of purplebloods to exterminate some unruly Gamblingants and Roverazers hovering around the docks. They won’t know who we are, and we’ll probably be attacked. Fun, right? We might not be able to kill them, but hell seadwellers are more amusing alive.” The Marquise bared her fangs at her crew who whooped at the thought of danger and potential toys. Several overeager eyes slid hungrily in the direction of Eridan, who shrunk down and tried to flatten his fins.

“The trip to the Capitol from here would take about 2 weeks or so, if we don’t stop.” Mindfang laughed raucously. “That’s a joke. WHAT ARE WE?”

“Dangerous!” roared back the crew. Apparently this was a common chant.

“AND?”

“Unpredictable!”

“WHO DO WE OBEY?”

“The Captain and the Captain only, so Fuck Royalty!”

“BECAUSE WHO ARE WE?!”

“Gamblingants! Gamblingants!”

“CORRECT! Tomorrow we head for the merchant routes. I don’t know about you, but I’m hankering for some gold and action. Maybe if we’re lucky, we can get some precious purple blood from them pretentious bastards to decorate the ship with. We’ll arrive at the Capitol in our own sweet time. How far can one slave get? So for now, riches! We’ll have booty to spend at port and seadweller trophies to boot.”

The roars from the crowd were deafening, and many were imagining the glory or defeating a powerful and armed violet captain. More than a few trolls were looking at the lone seadweller with narrowed eyes in hemocaste-ingrained suspicion.

When the Marquise leapt off the crate, Eridan quickly scooted off and vanished into the kitchen for his turn at washing dishes, out of the way of pirates incited with bloodthirst.

Vriska got up as well, having gotten used to the constant threats of violence of the crew to one another that were rarely carried out. “Well, well the Capitol,” she thought. “Never thought I’d get a chance to go there out of a cerulean paint pot of wriggler blood. This could be exciting. I’ve always wondered what an adult seatroll looks like, are they bigger? Violet is the second to highest right? And…higher gets stronger? Fuck this is stupid. No wonder the village left it behind.”

Quickly getting bored of thinking about the complicated hemosystem. She turned her mind to a device she was building in her free time with the innumerable spare parts stored in the ship’s massive and chaotic hold. On the way to the kitchen for her shift, she overheard two of the crewmembers talking.

“That nasty little seadweller is up to something, innit he,” said one, a fat teal with a broken horn.

“I bet he is, after hearing about what his fellows were doing,” replied a blue with conical horns. She dropped her voice to a confidential whisper. “Did you see how he ran off tonight? I bet he’s hiding somewhere, ready to slip one of those stinkin’ knives of his between our ribs.”

“Heh. I say we kill ‘im.”

“No, the Captain would kill _us_. But yer right. First toe outta line and _bam_ I say we get ‘im before he strikes.”

The fuck was this? It hadn’t occurred to Vriska that the recent announcement would bring suspicion upon Eridan. Completely unwarranted too. From what _she_ could see during the perigree she had known him, he was a douche certainly but capable and honest. But she’d rather jump overboard than admit that. They were at a mutual, awkward stalemate.

Mr. Broken Horn whose name she didn’t care to recall growled at her. She had unconsciously slowed down in an attempt to hear more of their conversation.

“Git a move on landscum, before I gut yer.”

She bowed her head and moved on. It wasn’t worth picking fights. Last time it earned her several bad bruises and a badly torn jacket she had to clumsily fix (with Eridan’s annoyed help). Her pride had been lowered, but her physical wounds were healing. She still only had the set of clothes given to her upon arrival, and didn’t care to look too shabby next to Eridan’s impeccable clothing.

The young troll was already scrubbing away and silently pointed at the rows of pots to be washed when Vriska came in. They worked away together without speaking, as usual. She considered bringing up mention of the two trolls, but a glance at Eridan’s tense face told her to keep quiet. Most likely nothing would be carried out.

The silence stretched on.

Dawn was gone and the sun blistered hotly by the time they went back to the bunks, where everyone else was already snoring. Eridan screwed up his eyes and ran across the deck, eyes locked downwards. Vriska strolled across, admiring the play of light on the water and flaunting her strong eyes to the seadweller. She weaved among the coons and found Eridan already asleep. Tossing off her clothes, she sank into the green slime.

***

_BOOM._

Vriska was practically thrown from her coon as the ship rocked violently. Scrambling upright, she shook sopor from her eyes and tried to comprehend was happening.

_BOOM._

She flew backward into Eridan, who was also up and staring out of a porthole, trying to figure out what was hitting the ship. Abruptly, the room went dark as a completely massive… _thing_ …with pure white scales reared pass the window. The two young trolls gaped up at it as it continued in an unending column, up and over what they could see from the window.

_BOOM-CRACK._

“SHIT!” bellowed Eridan, grabbing his knife belt and scrambling for the door, slipping on sopor and weaving between the adults also trying to get up. Vriska snatched the sword closest to her, ignoring the yells of its owner and followed Eridan into the sun.

It was noon, the sun directly overhead. The ship’s morning watch lay dead upon the deck, neck broken from his fall and staring eyes still masked by a day-hat. Over the figure, a monster reared. It was serpentine; a monstrous thing three times thicker than the mast and infinitely long, with pure white scales that blinded Vriska with a billion sparks of reflected sun. It’s cruel, narrow face focused on the ship. Sharp webbed spikes trailed its entire length dotted with algae and strands of kelp. Three huge gills flared, exposing the tissue underneath as it swung its body again, splintering the port side rail. It was trying to sink them.

“Don’t let it loop around us!” yelled someone.

The rest of the crew had crowded the entrance to the decks behind Eridan and Vriska, unwilling to go out into the sun and lose their sight. Except one.

 Eridan wriggled from the mass of trolls and ran out from the cover of belowdecks and sprinted across, eyes averted until he grabbed the sun hat from the body. He stood at ready as the serpent came in for another pass and with an expertly timed throw, hurled one of his knives at its face.

The beast roared in agony, the knife burying itself in the sensitive flesh of its gills. It was a short distraction, but enough. Eridan was already climbing up the mast, trying to get a better angle on the beast. Mindfang burst from her cabin only to stumble back and pull her hat down as the sun glared down at her. Abruptly, she was thrown from the doorway into the railing as the boat lurched with another attack. The deck was in disarray, the loosely bound items moving with the ship. A heavy crate bore down after Mindfang and slammed her against the rail, pinning her.

A collective roar came from the crew and a few of the riskier ones charged forward. Vriska was paralyzed in fear, but extended her mind, trying to mind control the creature into submission. She was blocked by a wall of primal savagery she could not get a grip on. A flash of white made her jump and the disembodied legs of a crewmember slowly sank down, surrounded by a puddle of blue. His torso gone into the mouth of the monster. The other four brave souls were picked off in a similar fashion, tiny weapons useless against the hard scales. The serpent licked its lips and looked for another bite, when it reared back in pain.

Eridan had reached the top of the mast and readied another knife to join the other newly embedded in the monster’s eye. He was aiming when the wild thrashing caught Eridan’s mast with a heaving, cracking shudder. The seatroll’s arms flailed in slow motion. For a moment, it looked as if he would get his balance back when the white tail whipped through the air, inches from him. And he fell.

“No!” The sound tore from Vriska’s throat and then she was running into the sun. It was bright enough to hurt even her eyes, and she squinted. Eridan was tangled in a few ropes, struggling to get even footing suspended halfway up the mast. His hat had fallen, but his face was averted. The monster was preparing another strike, wanting to finish of the brazen troll who dared hurt it. Distraction. She needed a distraction.

Vriska charged forward screaming in attempt to attract its attention while looking for an opening in the white armor. Another heave of the coils threw her off balance and she tripped over a canvas-wrapped bundle. The rope had been loosened and a tiny glint of crystal blue shone from within.

Ahab’s Crosshairs from her village.

Without thinking, she stuck the sword in her belt and clawed at the canvas, clumsy with fear. The wet knots stubbornly refused to give until finally she bit through the rope with her canines and grabbed the gun. With a sharp whine it hummed to life in her hands, crackling with energy. Whipping around, she fired a blind shot in the direction of the coils.

Her aim was shit.

The blast, weak without charging, sailed gracefully past anything that was remotely near to the sea monster. At least she didn’t hit Eridan. At least noise was enough to catch the leviathan’s attention. At least oh shit dive to the side when the narrow head lunged for her, punching a hole through the deck with its snout. She was near the mast now, Eridan nowhere in sight. She only needed one good shot…

Vriska scrambled up the swaying ropes with one arm while the monster wriggled its head free. She was a quarter of the way up, but she fired another shot anyway. Blinding light erupted from the end of the gun with a stronger blast than before and whited out her vision. She heard a roar and continued climbing by feel, desperate to get above the monster before it recovered. As her sight slowly came back, the gun was tugged from her loose hold.

“Distract it!” bellowed Eridan, already trying to climb higher again to aim at the monster. He had wrapped his purple sash around his eyes in an attempt to block out the light, but it was still obstructing his vision. Vriska glanced down. The savage indigo eyes were locked on to the seatroll, who was oblivious to the danger swaying beneath his feet.

So Vriska did the only thing she could think of.

She drew her sword and flung herself directly at the head of the thing.

It was only the thing’s pure and utter shock that saved her.

It twisted to the side instead of opening its mouth and Vriska landed heavily on the webbing between the spikes just behind and stared hacking at it. The sea serpent screamed in agony and attempted to buck Vriska off her perch that she clung to grimly. Her hands were slipping. The scales were slick, drenched with indigo blood. Her sword was wrenched out of her hands and then she was falling backward over the side of the beast.

_BZZT-GRUNCH!_

The force of the blast threw the body to the side against Vriska. As it rolled, she got a glimpse of a very smug looking Eridan, sash still on, holding the smoking rifle. Slowly, heavily, the corpse fell to the deck, its weight making the entire ship loll to the side. Vriska dropped to the deck, wobbled for a second on unsteady legs, then simply collapsed. Bits of bone and gore from the destroyed head coated her. Her head was foggy with exhaustion.

What was that noise. Was that…

Cheering?

For who?

It became obvious as the surviving crewmembers streamed out, eyes focused downward, and picked up Vriska and carried her triumphantly back to the shelter of the cabin. Mindfang, unconscious and hurt, was being carefully carried to her quarters.

 Vriska twisted and spotted Eridan, now back on deck, looking deeply hurt at being ignored. Considering for a moment, she yelled “Eridan!”

The crew looked at her, confused. Vriska pointed, “He was the one who shot it.”

They looked at each other uneasily.

“Get him you cowards, you should be grateful.”

That did it. They went back out and carried him back as well.

Eridan looked stunned. When he was put down, he asked her “Why…Why did yer do that?”

Vriska grinned. “Well, maybe I’ve decided you’re not half bad.”

Eridan considered this for a moment. “You’re still a bitch, but you’ve got style.”

“You’re still a dick, I forgot that.”

“…thanks. No really. Thank you. I oughta be dead iffin it weren’t for you.”

“Fiiiiiiiine I owe you one too.”

“You’re a shitty shot.”

“You’ve got terrible balance.”

They lapsed into silence as their exertions caught up with them. Despite their injuries, Vriska’s new coat of gore, and lack of sopor, they fell asleep leaning against one another until they were carried to the ship’s surgeon.

A lull fell over the ship, waiting for the unforgiving sun to disappear before trying to make repairs.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an update, sorry for delay! School started and got in the way.

“Git that away from me! D’ya hear me? Stay aw-way!”

Vriska was sitting on a table in the onboard surgeon’s quarters. She was watching Eridan’s struggles with the jadeblood doctor in great amusement, having discovered Eridan’s phobia of needles. As soon as he saw the barely 2-claws long tiny metal cylinder that was supposed to be pushed into his arm to prevent infection he completely flipped the fuck out. It was actually rather impressive how vigorously he protested, considering his numerous injuries. Vriska herself had her right arm bound to her side, after having her shoulder sickenly popped back into place after she dislocated it from her fall to the deck. Then the jadeblood surgeon had spent the rest of the daylight hours going over her and Eridan to make sure all the bone shards and wood splinters had been removed from them skin and properly dressed, though Vriska had several deep ones in her stomach.

The jadeblood, who introduced herself as Kanaya, had simply looked at Eridan with slightly amused eyes when he started throwing himself at the locked door and proceeded to inject Vriska first. It pinched a bit, hardly anything really. But when Kanaya turned to Eridan, he jumped up from where he had slumped by the door and continued evasion from the dreaded needle. Eventually, Kanaya became exasperated and asked for Vriska’s to help pin him down; Vriska had no idea why Eridan was thrashing around so much and was mildly impressed with the strength that he displayed while exhausted. Seadweller strength was fucking scary.

Finally, Kanaya managed to slip the needle in, inject, and slide it out again in the space of a second. Eridan didn’t seem to notice until Vriska shot out her good arm and clamped his loud mouth shut.

“It’s done. Stop freaking out, dumbass.”

Eridan’s eyes looked at her and then darted to his arm still restrained under her knee. A tiny pinprick of purple near his inner elbow confirmed her statement. He managed to open his jaws a fraction and nipped Vriska’s hand with his stupidly sharp shark teeth.

“Ouch!”

Vriska jerked back, nursing her hand. Eridan leapt up, knocking her on her recently bandaged back and stood at the door.

“Kin I go now? Now?” he said, still looking a bit skittery and very worn down with bandages wrapped around his arms.

Kanaya placed the key into a fold on her dress, having unlocked the door and washed her hands.

“Yes. I believe that injection should keep any bacteria at bay so long as you come back every so often for me to change your bandages. This inc--!”

The door slammed behind Eridan as he exited the place as soon as he heard the “yes” and probably not much else.

“It’s okay. You can tell me before I leave and keep that asshole in the dark” volunteered Vriska.

Kanaya chuckled and turned back to her. Vriska had a few more cuts to go around her stomach, which was tricky to bandage. She watched as Kanaya’s slender fingers deftly apply some ointment and gently wrapped the bandage around her midsection while Vriska held her shirt up. It was delivered by a crewmember early in the night, and she didn’t have a clue where her old clothes were. The new ones didn’t fit much better, but at least they were clean. Any embarrassment was lost in the hours of treatment when both fighters were still too tired to think about it. It wasn’t like Kanaya made a big deal out of her hanging chest-meatsacks anyway.

The healer finished up and washed her hands, and Vriska lowered the shirt and took her jacket. But she didn’t leave. The jadeblood fascinated her. She hadn’t seen her around before; in fact she bore an uncanny resemblance to one of the adult trolls back in her village. This troll could have been her clone, and Vriska needed to know more about this troll who had come to haunt her from her past.

“So… how did a jade like you end up on a ship like this?”

Kanaya’s back stiffened, and an awkward silence filled the room.

“If it’s some huuuuuuuuge secret you don’t _have_ to tell me,” Vriska added grudgingly.

Kanaya’s back relaxed, but she voice sounded careful, controlled.

“I decided to leave the caverns. Eventually, life brought me here several sweeps ago, and I’ve been ever since.”

An enigmatic answer. Yeah right she wasn’t going to leave it at that.

“Why did you decide to leave the caverns? In fact, how the hell did you leave the caverns? From what I’ve heard, it’s sorta a lifelong commitment or something. When did you decide to leave? It must have been a long time ago. No offense,” Vriska babbled.

Kanaya sighed and stared into the towel she was holding. She hung it on its rack and sat down, brushing out her elegant red skirt and staring at her hands. She abruptly looked up, as if deciding something, and spoke in a low, weary voice.

“When I was young, younger than you, I was training to take care of the Mother Grub. A noble profession, one exalted and excluded from the hemospectrum to some degree, reserved for those of my blood color. We were cared for, so long as we cared for the grubs that would soon hatch and take on the trials. Most were content, not knowing how it was outside. But I was different. I was one of the caretakers of the Daughter Grubs-in-Waiting, and I heard their whispers. They had the knowledge of a million lifetimes before them and within the voices I heard the songs of the ones that had cared for a troll. A Virgin Grub, the likes of one that had not been seen in a thousand years. They told me of grass, of the twin moons, and the sky. Everything we could never experience trapped in these tunnels. And so I wanted to leave, but nobody understood. You have everything here, they said. Put those blasphemous thoughts out of your head before we silence you forever, they said. And so stayed for another three sweeps, listening to the murmurs, until it became unbearable. But before I was about to leave, another troll vanished and security was tightened, with culling drones at every exit.”

“Another troll? How long ago?” Vriska interjected.

“Roughly 9 sweeps ago, I believe. She was older than I. Why do you ask?”

“I knew another jadeblood, from where I lived.”

“You knew Porrim?”

“Um, we called her the Dolorosa”

“Ah yes, that was the title she assumed after her escape. Is she well.”

“She’s dead, she was killed in the attack.”

Kanaya’s brow furrowed. “I’m very sorry to hear that, I’ve always wanted to meet her, and find out why she left, even if she my escape was harder. It wasn’t for another 4 sweeps that I went out, and stayed out. I reveled in the grass, the trees; it was everything I’d been promised. But what I didn’t know was of all the dangers outside the breeding caverns. I spent several perigrees hiding in the woods. Many a time I wanted to go back, but the moment I went missing was the point of no return. Had I attempted to return I surely would have been culled. The Empire has no room for those who disobey. It was a wonder that I managed to survive the first night, nevermind the following weeks and weeks. Slowly, I learned how to deal with other trolls, who to avoid, and those who were sympathetic. I was told to go to the ports. Gamblingants often took in runaways from the Empire, but just as often they would sell them back to the Empire or even Roverazers slave ships. I had no choice, so I went. Long story short, I ended up in a port that Mindfang happened to be docked in, and she needed a healer and a…well she needed a new “partner”. I was desperate at this point; I had been recognized as a jade just I as I got into port and the Imperials were already closing in when I found Mindfang. I suppose I am indebted to her, but I have been paying with my skills and my body so I think that payment is done now, but obviously she doesn’t think so.” Her voice had grown bitter by the end, a dark contrast to her usual melody.

Vriska was shocked into silence, having only recently taken from a similarly sheltered lifestyle and had never heard of the brutal containment of the jades, not even from the Dolorosa who refused to mention it. She had never heard of a troll being killed for wanting something better.

The silence in the room stretched on until Kanaya gave a twitch and unclenched her hands from the towel she gripped hard enough to leave lines on her palm.

“I don’t expect you to understand why I wanted to leave, not many did and you’re young.”

“No. I think I do.”

Kanaya started up in surprise at the blunt retort.

“I grew up away from the batshit insane place you lived in that’s for sure.” Vriska started, pulling at a bandage.

“I grew up in normal Alternian society, what you are talking about? That is how it is everywhere, even here on this ship” Kanaya replied placidly.

“Yeah well it wasn’t like that where I lived that’s for fucking sure. I had friends who were greenbloods, rustbloods, even a fucking mutantblood. In fact I was even flus—there was a rustblood important to me. Nobody killed each other. We were a village of _rejects_ , outcasts who clung to life like a bunch of orphaned wrigglers at the end of culling fork. Caliginous feelings were strictly regulated. Didn’t stop me from having them o’ course, never met a more annoying tealblood. But sometroll who killed another without cause would be killed by the oldies who had lived forever in the village. We even worked during the day and slept without sopor at night to avoid detection, the same as we have for like hundreds of years. Until we slipped up and someone found us.”

“That’s ridiculous. How could you have stayed alive so long without the Empire knowing?”

“I think they moved around every so often or something, like 5 sweeps or so. Never did while I was there, because everyone really liked the coast and it was far away enough from the Capitol for any news to reach them.”

“And you had no idea what the outside world was like.”

“No, but you bet your ass that I wanted to leave. It was boring and stupid, every day was filled with work and nothing else. The oldies would tell us stories to the wrigglers filled with adventure and mystique. Weapons and laughter and slaughter, brave trolls and evil trolls, and those who were neither, like Mindfang. Actually I was obsessed with Mindfang for a really long time and I wanted to be juuuust like her. I wanted to leave to be like her, but I couldn’t just waltz out. I may not know everything about the landlubber freaks but I knew I would die. I wanted to leave. But not in the way that put me here.” Vriska faltered, pausing in her story.

Kanaya sat quietly, processing Vriksa’s tale. She looked at Vriska’s quiet form and pursed her lips, but a question still escaped. “Mindfang? How did you know of her?”

Vriska stirred, 8 pupils flicking to the jadeblood. “Not this Mindfang, dumbass, but the one from the old tales. The really old ones. 50% Viciousness 50% Beauty and 100% Pirate. Not this crazy troll who pretends to be her.”

“I have never heard of such stories.”

“You’re kidding, everyone knows about Marquise Spinneret Mindfang.”

“My previous statement stands.”

“So you don’t know anything about a blueblooded pirate from hundreds of sweeps ago?”

“Even supposing she is a very long-lived blueblood, at this point any such troll of her color would be aged beyond belief and certainly piracy.”

“…Huh.”

A something heavy fell suddenly outside the infirmary door. The voices that had been rising in volume during their talk peaked as a telltale voice rang over the ship. Mindfang – the current Mindfang – was awake and ordering her crew about.

“Time’s up, Her Piracy is awake. I’d like to remind you to please come in at least every other day or whenever your bandages soak through, and to please tell that seadweller as well,” Kanaya said pleasantly, and went over to wash out the bandages that she had used.

Vriska heaved herself up, wincing as her injuries shifted under the bandages. She limped over to the door, but paused. “What’s Eridan’s deal? Any idea why he’s here?”

Kanaya smiled faintly. “Everyone has a story, and many of them are not as light or happy as one would hope. Even the surliest crewmember had a life before becoming a Gamblingant. Even the happiest or most fortunate of trolls has secrets. In fact, _I’ve_ often wondered what that seadweller is doing here, but it seems imprudent for me to ask, given my status.”

Vriska groaned. “No straight answers from you ever. What’s even your status anyway?”

Kanaya’s face twisted. “Nothing worse than a healer. Nothing better than a slave.”

She turned, clearly dismissing Vriska. The cerulean exited the peaceful sickroom to find the deck abuzz with the surviving crewmembers moving about in the light of twin moons.

Mindfang was leaning heavily on a makeshift crutch, favoring her right leg. Her midsection was wrapped tightly in stiff bandages, presumably to prevent a cracked rib from moving. A small greenblood was hovering over her, trying to make sure the bandages didn’t slip, but was having a hard time of it as the corsair brushed her off and continued bellowing orders in a voice unweakened by injury.

The deck was still spattered with dark purple blood, but the bloody remains of the monster had been hurled overboard to a school of hungry sharks that were following the boat. Crewmembers were running from side to side, building and cleaning and brining supplies from the vast depths and clutter of the belowdecks. An indigo nodded to Vriska, and another flashed a quick salute. She had earned their respect with her attack on the beast and her initiation as a crewmember was complete. Mindfang spotted her and beckoned her over, looking intimidating as usual. When Vriska came close enough, she slapped the younger troll on the back, causing Vriska to grunt in pain.

“Stellar performance, far more than I expected out of limp wimp like you,” she began.

“…thank you? Captain.”

“Glad you’ve finally learned your manners. Go take a rest, the seadweller is down there too, and report to me at nightbreak tomorrow. Your training begins, do not tarry.”

The Marquise turned about on her crutch and continued to coordinate the fixing of her ship, leaving Vriska to stumble belowdecks. Eridan was already snoring in his sopor, bubbles drifting up from his gills. Vriska smiled privately as she undressed and sank down into the green embrace of her coon.


	7. Chapter 7

The training started slow, Mindfang busy repairing her ship. Everyone was up from dusk to dawn patching, nailing, and hauling the debris into the ocean. The main mast’s spars were damaged, ropes ripped away into the deep and the sails hung in tatters, forcing _Spider8ite_ , the ship, to rely on only two masts and a couple of crewmembers hauling away at oars. The hull itself wasn’t damaged badly, as the waterlogged wood had only bent instead of snapped, still swollen enough to prevent any major gaps from opening; nothing unfixable with a bit of tar and spare wood they had onboard. Still, the ship was crippled and they were on a slow, limping path towards land in hopes of finding a place to rest or a slow ship to attack and loot. Until then, it was slow going, having sailed far past their last stop at the lush islands and were in little-known waters. Supplies were disheartingly low; islands were barely strips of rock on which a few bushes clung. Merchant paths didn’t come out this far; the only ships would be the small, swift ones of couriers far too fast for the broken ship to handle. Mindfang had announced they would be aiming for a pirate port, where they would be welcome and Mindfang's reputation alone was enough to get them supplies. By the time the moons set on the 14th night after the attack, the ship was sailing smoothly as it could under Mindfang's eight watchful pupils.

\----

Vriska was dreaming again. She wandered around the blank landscape, preferring the unchanging grey to things that might haunt her if she let her imagination run free. Eridan wasn't here, or Kanaya. She tried to call up images of them to keep her company, but nothing happened. Alone. She kept walking. Dark shadows moved just beyond the mental light she shed around her, but they drew back as she approached and melted into nothing. There was a light in the horizon line, and she turned toward it, curious after an eternity in the dark. It didn't fade or draw back and she started getting nearer to it. Eventually, the nothingness beneath her feet gave way to sand and a landscape slowly sharpened as if through a camera lens. The burning hot sun from her village hung in a sky patterned with compasses and maps, illuminating an amazing seascape with fuchsia cliffs covered with lush greenery jutting up above the waves. Vriska walked to the edge of a cliff, brushing past vines that hung everywhere in thick, humid air. Looking down the dizzying drop, she watched waves pounding the base of the rock. Something colorful flashed in the water. She squinted, trying to see closer. 8 pupils focused at the very bottom of the cliff where a set of very large orange horns still clung to a bleached skull...

A vibration jolted her awake, accompanied by a ringing noise that rang through her coon. Vriska punched the alarm clock to turn it off, but of course the damn thing didn't break like she hoped. She didn't bother opening her eyes. The sopor had healed most of the cuts she got from the monster, but a short stretch told her exactly where Mindfang has bruised her over the last 20 days. Eventually, she reached out and clicked her pod open, passing through the membrane that had been installed above the entrance that sluiced off most the sopor. The material clung thick and cold again her skin, despite her highblood coolness. Nobody was up yet, but she had training to do on top of her usual chores aboard ship so she hurried to the washpool, carefully tucking her new sword in her belt. It was gift from Mindfang to aid her training, basic but of decent quality and a keen, straight blade. She had another knife tucked into her shorts because you never know when some psycho might attack you in the bath.

Snores followed her down to the washpool. She quietly laid her sword aside and leapt in. She was used to its chill by now and quickly scrubbed her hair a few times before she came up for air. Shaking her head to clear the air, something shifted behind her. Instantly, she dived to the side and under the water as a heavy projectile slammed into the water where she was half a second ago.

Oh no no no shit shit not again. Vriska flailed in the water, trying to get back on land where she actually knew how to move her body without sinking like a stone. Her hair caught against her eyes and she started panicking, churning water not knowing which was up. A horn bumped the wall and she scrambled for the edge, dragging herself up. Another metal ball hit the water but Vriska was finally out of the pool and crouched at ready with the knife in her hand, trying to stop coughing water.

The Marquise frowned at her, casually tossing another small cannonball casually in one hand, a hooked blue sword in the other. Her ribs were still bandaged and her leg in a splint, but neither of the injuries seemed to hinder her movement.

“Faster, faster! What kind of pirate are you if you’re killed in the water??” With a flick of her wrist she hurled the cannon ball at Vriska and charged forward with her sword drawn. The younger troll barely managed to dodge the ball and by sheer luck Mindfang’s sword cut into the wood beside her arm instead of hitting her. Rolling, Vriska tried throwing her knife like she saw Eridan do countless times but the Captain easily swatted away the clumsy attempt. Scrambling, Vriska tried to grab her sword that lay nearby but with a simple kick to the side and a blur of blue metal she was pinned to the floor with the Marquise frowning above her.

“Well, that was certainly a lackluster performance” she said, looking at Vriska from side to side. “And you were doing so well for first week, is your learning curve really that bad?”

Vriska didn’t respond and simply closed her eyes. She was sick of all the surprise attacks, all the training without end or breaks. It hadn't even been that long but the new, constant tension had worn her down. There wasn’t any point anymore, and she was starting to feel sorry she accepted Mindfang’s offer in the first place. It was a waste of time, and not worth all the cuts and bruises and humiliation.

Mindfang jerked her sword free and left derisively, leaving Vriska to slowly get up and find her things scattered about the washpool floor. She limped out as the other trolls came in, Eridan at the back. The seatroll barely acknowledged Vriska; he had grown increasingly distant the more Mindfang trained with her, and now their shared chores were done in silence with short, curt answers. On top of that he refused to tell Vriska why he was so pissy lately.

Their chores took them to different ends of the ship that night; the ship still crippled from the attack. They didn’t have time to talk to each other again until dinner.

"Owwwwww," Vriska groaned as she slumped down beside Eridan and Kanaya, who had taken to joining them for their meals. "I swear I have bruises in places I didn't think existed."

Eridan had stiffened the moment the cerulean had sat down. He started chewing more aggressively at his hardtack biscuit dinner. He didn't reply, but Kanaya shot a warning look at Vriska, who continued to be ridiculously bad at picking up social cues.

"I swear I want to jump overboard this is sooooooo stupid. She hasn't taught me anything, except how not to teach!!!!"

Eridan stopped grinding his jaw and turned on Vriska. "Well may if ya actually tried so would she you ungrateful ---!" He stopped himself. Abruptly, he stood up and stalked off.

Vriska gaped in shock after him. "What the fuck is up with him?" she asked Kanaya.

The jadeblood just looked at her in condescension. "I presume you have not asked him about his past yet?"

"No...It's been real busy you know. What with the ship being wrecked and all. And dumb pirate bitch beating me up at every possible opportunity. Also how the hell am I supposed to bring it up? 'Oh hey Eridan what's traumatizing in your past that Kanaya keeps trying to make me find out?!?!'" Vriska said in a squeaky version of her own voice.

"I suggest you leave me out of it. He made me promise I wouldn't tell, moirial's oath." replied Kanaya smoothly.

"Wait what the fuck you're his moirail???"

"Well...I have been acting in that function since he arrived on this ship. I do not know if he realizes this, but I had decided not to mention it to him. It would be better if he didn't take me as a quadrant, given my position on this ship."

"But you're pale for him." 

"No! Just a...stand in. Someone for him to trust on this hellship."

"Paaaaaaaaale."

“No just…”

“Paleeeee”

"Are you quite done?"

"Ahahaaha. So pale."

Kanaya hmphed. "Tread carefully, highblood. If I hear that you breathed even a word of this to Mindfang I will personally remove your internal organs with a chainsaw."

"Whoa fussyfangs I'm not hissing a word of this to anyone, especially not that bitch of Captain."

"You know that if I were to report that sentence to that bitch you would be hung for mutiny?"

"Uh huh, nevermind that you gave a secret to me too. Eye for an eye. Or 8 pupils in my case. What's up with you the Cap anyway?"

"Quieter!" hissed Kanaya, looking frantically around the deck. "Mindfang doesn’t like me talking about our deal."

"What deal?" whispered Vriska back.

"She has me trapped, alright? She thinks she's in three of my quadrants, and she's doesn't like sharing her loot."

“So she’s forcing you to--!”

"LAND!" came the cry from overhead, startling both trolls.

Kanaya jerked the younger troll closer to her face as the deck came alive with trolls. "Do not mention this again. And stop saying how badly you're doing at training when Eridan's around. I'm not liable for any damage he may inflict on you should you continue. Apologize to him you oblivious fool."

Kanaya released Vriska and swept gracefully to her feet, hurrying to her clinic. On the opposite end of the ship Mindfang stoof, wind whipping her hair back and eyepatch pushed up so that all eight pupils glared into the bright light. On the horizon was a massive cliff face, growing slowly as the ship sailed straight for it.

Vriska pushed herself up to the front, near where Mindfang stood.

"That's Deadlusus Cove," Spinneret said, still staring at the forbidding cliffs that the dark clouds seem to cling to. "There lies the biggest of the smuggling ports. Remember this place, youngster, for here is a pirate's entire existence summed up in one city."

She turned back to her crew. "I project that we will arrive noon tomorrow! Set a steady course, don't overexert the hull! It’s still weak. Get moving!"

The mass of trolls jostled Vriska as they moved out, and she spotted Eridan jogging to the rigging. She caught hold of his arm and he spun around to face her, knocking her hand aside.

"Look, I'm sorry" she said quickly, before Eridan could open his scowling mouth. "For whatever I did, I was an asshole I'm sorry."

Eridan stared at her. "Kanaya told you to apologize, didn't she?"

"I uh...yeah."

The seadweller sighed. "I suppose I was irrational too. I can't expect you to know what I don't tell you."

"Tell me what?????? Stop hiding things from me!"

Eridan glared at her. "Listen you naive landdweller, I've only known you for 5 perigrees. I am not about to spill my guts to some puffed up cerulean who can barely swim."

"Actually, I can't swim" Vriska said.

This statement completely blindsided Eridan and caused him to gape openly at the cerulean standing before him as if seeing her for the first time.  "You. Can't. Swim."

"No. Not really. I'm fine with the pool now but I can't actually....swim in it."

"Blood fucking hell you're going to die as soon as we land. They chew up youngsters, and they can smell fucking fear like flea ridden barkbeasts and they'll know. I've been there. Not with a ship, which probably made it worse but they'll still go after you. Mindfang has enemies and yer the spittin image a her."

Vriska was once again shocked at the brutality of the adult trolls. She was silent, and so was Eridan until he broke the pause.

"Meet me when everyone else is asleep at the washpool. I'm not lettin you die on my watch. But you’ll owe me, landdweller."

He hurried away to do his chores, and after a moment Vriska followed suit, afraid but happier than before. She hadn't realized how lonely she felt when someone wasn't constantly insulting her.

 

The sun was rising, and most of the crew was asleep. Down in the washpool, the filtering system gave little swishing sounds as it worked and the rising sun splashed waving golden patterns over the walls. The old polished wood glowed under the new sun and everything was rich with light. The beauty of the scene was lost on the two trolls. A young sea dweller and a cerulean with the swimming instincts of a drowned puppy stood at the edge of the pool, staring at the water with two very different expressions on their faces. The purple tinted one was grim amusement; the other, more white than blue, was anxiety personified.

"So. Show me what you can do. Or can't do." said Eridan, gesturing at the water.

Vriska gulped, jumped into the water, and stood up. The water was about chest-high here, flowing with the current from the filtering system.

"Deeper" commanded Eridan.

She slowly moved deeper, until her toes could no longer reach the floor. She began her usual thrashing attempts to stay above the water and with the movements of a dying octopus eventually made it to the other side, panting.

Eridan was unimpressed.

He sighed and stripped off his shirt and put it aside before jumping in beside her. He had somehow procured a pair of thick black glasses and perched them upon the end of nose before launching into a speech.

"The point a swimmin is to get from point A to point B using the least energy possible and not drown while you're doing it. What you are doing right now is leavin point A and drownin in the least dignified possible way before getting even halfway to point B" he said, using his feet to keep himself afloat and gesturing to show her just how undignified her death would be.

Vriska was not amused, and shoved him lightly so he needed his hands back in the water to right himself.

Eridan flicked water at her before continuing.

"There are several strokes that a troll can use, depending on the situation. Tonight we are going to do breaststroke."

"What, swimming with my boobs?"

More water flicked in her direction. "The first thing is to teach you how to float. Try floating on your back."

"That's easy, I can float!"

"Then do it!"

Grumbling, she turned onto her back and stuck her arms out.

"Relax."

She did and found she bobbed up better. Maybe there was something to this floating thing.

"Good now watch me, and follow me."

The day grew hotter and brighter as the a seadweller guided a landdweller in the art - skill really - of swimming. By the time they were too exhausted to continue, Vriska was adept at breaststroke as well as freestyle and backstroke.

Resting on the side with their legs in the water, Eridan quizzed her. "When do you use freestyle?"

"When you want to move pretty quickly and there's no danger from overhead."

"Or not much danger, a few cannonballs you kin see coming when you breathe. Backstroke?"

"Taunting or insulting other vessels, careful of running into things behind you."

"Good. Boobstroke?"

Vriska giggled. "When you're approaching or leaving a vessel under a hail of fire, keep your head above the water."

"And lastly, what didn't we cover today?"

"Mini-6-legged-flapbeaststroke, good for fast escapes. Uses a lot of energy and you can't see where you're going but it'll get you out of a sticky situation.

"...what did you call it?"

"Mini-6-legged-flapbeaststroke?"

"It's butterfly, Vris. Butterfly stroke. What did you do, grow up around lowbloods?"

It occurred to Vriska that Eridan has as little knowledge of Vriska's past as she did of his. "As a matter of fucking fact I did, and I loved them. I loved and I hated them but they were family, all I had. Especially one, a rustblood who would have meant everything and might have changed me for the better, if we had more time. But Roverazers took it all away from me and it's up to me not to disappoint them by losing myself too. So don't fucking hate on lowbloods!"

 "I wasn't hating!" spat Eridan. "Do you know how hard I try not to look down on them, after years of them telling me I was above them? I'm not. I disappointed someone too; it was my fault he's gone. He was a pissblood too, but he was so much more and I just threw him away."

"I'm sorry."

"Ye should be."

Silence. Then:

You're looking for him, aren't you?"

"Yes. Now shut up about him."

They shared a moment that warm room, before silently agreeing and going up to catch a precious hour of sleep before the rest of the ship awoke. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter so I can get this going again. Sorry for the long wait!

Something was shaking violently, sloshing the thin sopor and throwing a sleeping Vriska from a too-short rest. She lurched up groggily and snapped her teeth at the shape rocking the coon. The indigoblood, called Ezzery or something, jerked back and laughed.

“Land ho, you don’t wanna miss this,” he said before joining the thunder of feet to the bow.

Vriska stumbled quickly out of the coon, shaking sopor from her hair and nearly crashed into a sleep-deprived Eridan.

“Watch it,” he mumbled, groping around for his belt.

“Hurry up, there’s land and I haven’t seen land in _ages_ I’m so done with this damn boat,” Vriska retorted, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

The other crewmembers were watching the incoming shore in anticipation. Sure enough, The Scratch was nosing its way into a harbor filled with other ships in different states of repair. It didn’t join the others though, throwing anchor meters before line of ships by the docks. The crewmembers had dispersed through the ship and were hauling crates and barrels all over the deck.

“Aren’t we going to dock? How are we supposed to get to shore?” asked Vriska. “We don’t have to swim, do we?”

“Ha, no.” replied Ezzery. “We got smaller boats to use when we don’t hafta load a bunch of goods.”  He jerked his thumb at the boats that were being uncovered and brought to the edge of the deck. “It’s to prevent Mindfang’s enemies from boarding, ‘specially at these scummy halftrip ports. An’ anyone from stowing away. It’s a pain,” he added, pointedly looking at Eridan, who had finally arrived on deck, sash and all.

Eridan flinched and ducked, avoiding Ezzery’s accusing stare and hurriedly grabbed a sack to load onto the rowboats. Vriska did the same, throwing empty supply crates into the rowboats. Most of them were already in the water, a small flotilla waiting for Mindfang who was still on board The Scratch. A few had remained behind to watch over the ship. Kanaya was standing a little ways apart, looking at the land.

“Aren’t you coming?” Vriska motioned at the last boat.

Kanaya shook her head quickly. “The Captain doesn’t like me leaving the ship, especially when she has business to attend to,” she said, and retreated back to her infirmiry before Vriska could say anything.  Vriska frowned, but tossed up the last sack and tried to get in the rowboat with Eridan, when a sharp finger jerked the back of her jacket.

Mindfang laughed. “Oh no no no, you’re going to swim, it’s now or never darling.”

Vriska looked at her in disbelief. “Swim? Now? To Shore? Captain.”

Mindfang continued to stare at her with them infuriating smile.

Vriska continued not to move.

Mindfang sighed, drew her sword and pointed it at Vriska. “Get the in water wriggler, unless you want to feed the sharks today.”

Vriska backed up to the railing, and turned to look down at the distant dark waters sloshing against the boat. Mindfang’s blue sword poked at her spine.

“Take off yer jacket or you’ll drown!”

Mindfang gave a sharp look at Eridan, who looked around innocently. Vriska took the opportunity to yank off her coat and leap over the railing.

She had a moment to consider her life and her choices as the wind whistled by her ears.

Then she hit the water.

It was stunningly cold, and hellishly dark.

Her muscles locked for a terrifying moment until her head broke the surface and she gasped for air. Seawater entered her lungs and she choked, limbs moving ineffectively. Another wave splashed over her head when the last rowboat hit the water. When she blinked water from her eyes, she saw Mindfang waving jovially at her, and a tealblood rowing her away. And there was Eridan, his face deathly pale, frantically gesturing behind his Captain’s back. What was he doing? Flapping? Pushing something up?

Water went over her head again. What was he doing that stupid num-

Oh. Eridan’s swimming lessons. Floating. That’s a thing.

Vriska forced herself to relax, and she felt herself bobbing upward, and took in massive gulps of air facing the pristine sky. Ok, floating, check.

Where’s the shore. Direction. She flailed for a bit until she moved in a circle and saw the shore and the boats. Ok, now slowly bring up right arm, left arm, right arm.

She was zooming along the water using the backstroke she learned just a few hours earlier. She stared up at the cliffs that formed the harbor and prayed she was moving in the right direction.

Several leaps of faith and dozens of strokes later, her horns bumped something behind her and she twisted to see what she had hit.

It was a rowboat, the last one, and Mindfang looked down at her.

“Had some lessons I see?” she mentioned casually.

Vriska ignored her and began swimming with breastroke behind the boat, keeping it in sight before her. By the time she reached the spit of sand with the rest of the crewmembers, it was all she could do to drag herself into the shallows and collapse, panting. The chill of the water and lack of sleep were catching up with her as she lay, the sharp smell of saltwater in her nose and water lapping at her ankles. She never wanted to move again. She heard the crew moving around, and Mindfang addressing them, but it was nothing more than a murmur in the background. She was thinking, tiredly gripping familiar land in her sea-worn claws, about escaping. She hadn’t mentioned it to Eridan, but had plans. Crazy plans, but plans nevertheless to get away from these dangerous trolls and hide herself away forever. What she would do later, she had no idea, but she wanted out.

But for now her muscles were screaming and she was sure she had lost a foot to frostbite.

It was quieter now; the crew seemed to have dispersed. Something nudged her side and she grunted, coughing up a mouthful of seawater. She rolled over and squinted up. Eridan stood over her, hand outstretched. “So ya gonna lay there all night, or are ya coming?”

Vriska summed up the most effort she ever had in her life, and flopped her arm into Eridan’s hand, making him drag her to her feet.

She wobbled around, shaking out her arms and legs. Her feet were miraculously fine, though still a little numb. Her muscles quivered with exhaustion and she shivered, looking around for the first time. The port wasn’t so much a port as a ramshackle village with everything from market vendors to a brothel with a blinking sign in the distance. It was built on a land that looked like it had been carved out of mountain with a dull knife, rocks littering either side of the plain that the port rested on. The whole thing was built in the shadow of a cliff, with caves and dangerous-looking stairs carved into the surface. Trolls jogged expertly up and down them, carrying things to and fro, and into the bright streets filled with taverns and shops. Lights blinked, vendors hawked their wares. The roar of music and voices was audible even at the docks where the two young trolls were standing.  It was the largest and most populous place Vriska had ever seen.

“What a dump,” remarked Eridan beside her.

Vriska gaped at him. “Dump? This place is amazing!”

He snorted. “Ah right, I keep forgetting you’ve never seen the Imperial cities. Believe me, this place doesn’t even measure up. You kin get stabbed and murdered here faster than you kin draw your sword. Speaking of which, Mindfing left that fer you.”

He pointed at a long, thin blue dagger stabbed in the stand next to a few coins. “Must be for not dying when she forced you into the water. Take it, you’re gonna need it.”

Vriska’s frozen fingers fumbled with it, nearly stabbing herself and dropping the coins. By the time she figured out fine motor control, Eridan was halfway up the shore and she had to jog-drag herself to catch up.

“Don’t show weakness, that’s how thieving scum pick targets,” Eridan continued when Vriska arrived, as if he wasn’t a complete dick for making her run. “Fin up, stop shaking. I know what’ll take that chill away. Just don’t look anyone in eyes and stab first, ask questions later.”

The lights twinkled invitingly, drawing the two young trolls toward the city.


End file.
